New Rugby Australia boss issues warning to NRL over player poaching

Stability and better on-field performances will be the key measures of success for new Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle, who will meet with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika on Tuesday.

Castle, who started in the job on Monday, is looking to build relationships after a challenging 2017 for Australian rugby in which the Western Force were culled from Super Rugby.

"Things have been really tough with the Super Rugby having to move a team on, down to the four teams, so there's no doubt we need to see a better performance in Super Rugby this year," Castle said.

Asked how she would measure success in her first year, Castle said "some stability that people can see across the performance of the Wallabies, community engagement, making sure that we've got some strong commercial programs in place."

She met Cheika for an hour before she accepted the role and had a two-hour meeting with him scheduled for her second day in charge.

(AAP)

"The relationship between the CEO and the coach is incredibly important," Castle said.

"It's about making sure that we find an engagement that works really well and that we can help each other and work closely together.

"At the moment I'm really at an information gathering stage because it is very early days.

"I describe it as like drinking out of the fire hydrant - it comes at you really quickly and you only grab a little bit of it, so that's going to be important to make sure I get those key pieces of feedback."

Castle has been briefed on the situation regarding Wallabies' back Karmichael Hunt, who was stood down by RA and the Queensland Rugby Union while they await more information from police who charged him with two counts of drug possession late last year.

"Until we really get the final feedback from the police and also from the court date which is late January, we really can't do any more until then," Castle said.

Asked about her approach to drug-related issues Castle said "the reality is for young athletes there's a chance to make a mistake and be forgiven for that.

"But if you keep making mistakes that makes the conversation much more challenging."

(AAP)

Castle said she hadn't yet spoken to Andrew Forrest, who wants to start an Indo-Pacific competition in 2019, though RA representatives had been in contact with the billionaire businessman.

"We've had constant and consistent dialogue and a lot of it has been fantastic," she said.

She felt Super Rugby needed to provide an entertainment experience, not just an onfield product, and wants to stem the flow of youngsters to rugby league and increase the amount of female and indigenous players.

She said sabbaticals could be a good thing and expected people would see their value when backrow star David Pocock returned to Australia this year.